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To the Women of the United States 

THIS APPEAL IS ADDRESSED, 



The grave of Mary, the Mother of Washington, lies neglected 
and desolate ; a monument begun there, but never completed, stands 
blackened and dilapidated. We would rescue from total oblivion 
the name of a woman whose memory should be hallowed in every 
American home, and pay a national tribute to her noble motherhood 
by erecting a monument in her honor. 

This is a " woman's movement," says the first circular issued, 
" national in its character, for raising the needed sum by such small 
contributions that no woman in the land need be deprived of the 
privilege of aiding a cause that must appeal to the heart of every 
mother and daughter in America." 

This will be the first monument ever erected by women to a 
woman. Mary Washington was of a heroic nature, patriotic soul, 
tender spirit, and uncommon mental gifts. .She was the finest type 
of the brave and devoted women who ruled the households of the 
Colonies in those days when our freedom trembled in the balance. 
Do we not stand reproached before the world ? Should we not make 
ample atonement for the neglect under which has lain for long years 
the memory of the mother of the greatest hero and patriot " that adorns 
the annals of history? " It is a sad spot, that desolated grave where 
has rested for a hundred years, amid tangled masses of humble weeds 
and grass, the noble woman so beloved and revered by her noble 
son, who proudly declared, " I attribute all my success in life to the 
moral, intellectual, and physical education which I received from 
my mother." Should not this touch the hearts of our women and 
make them cling tenderly to her memory as a proud heritage? A 
precious memorial will be the monument they shall place above her 
sacred dust, and consecrated the ground where she reposes. 

The women of America should be " heart-moved as by the voice 
of a trumpet " when this appeal comes to them. To her we are 
indebted that George Washington became a patriotic American citi- 
zen. To her is due that grand character, cast in such heroic mould, 
that union of gigantic energy, indomitable resolution, and dauntless 
coui'age which marked him the first of all his countrymen. It was 



she who kindled noble principles and purposes in his soul. At her 
side his genius budded and expanded. But for her wisdom and 
spirit he would have passed his youth upon the deck of a British 
man-of-war, trained for England's service, and the sword which 
cleft the way to our victory would have been drawn for our oppressor.* 

Women are giving their time and energies to building monuments 
to men. Their success is phenomenal. But the time has come 
when there must be commemorated in enduring marble the virtues 
of a woman, who shall be always to them the paragon of womanly 
excellence. Nothing is left undone to raise to a higher plane in 
this and foreign countries the memory of George Washington ; but 
for years this beloved and faithful-hearted mother, whose protest 
against the plans of others to give him to England made him ours 
forever, has but a dilapidated ruin to mark her grave. f 

Behind the gleaming marble the artist stands proclaiming his im- 
mortal workmanship. What sculptor can point to a work like that 
of Mary Washington? It was she who moulded into grand sym- 
metrical proportions this character so nearly perfect — it was she 
who gave him to his country. 

Women of America, marshal your forces ! Begin the work with 
energies quickened by the thought that she is yours ! 

* " Colonel Lawrence Washington, of Mount Vernon, with whom his little 
half-brother, George, was a petted favorite, procured for him in 1746, when 
he was not quite fourteen years of age, a midshipman's warrant in the British 
Navy, and the ensuing winter was passed in joyous preparation by young 
Washington for entering upon his new sphere in life. The following summer 
he was on the point of departure in a British ship-of-war lying in the Poto- 
mac. His lmggage was on board, when his mother's carefully considered 
final decision, kindly but firmly communicated, forbade his going— which 
greatly disappointed her son; but with filial love and ready obedience he ac- 
quiesced and returned to his studies." — Lossi/ig's "Life 0/ Mary Washington." 

fMarv Ball Washington, the daughter of Col. Joseph Ball, of Lancaster, 
Va., was born 1706; married Augustine Washington, March 6. 1730, and died 
August 25, 17S9, aged S3 years, and was buried on the spot chosen by her- 
self on her own home plantation, " Kenmore," on the Rappahannock, near 
Fredericksburg. 

Forty years after, a patriotic citizen of New York, Mr. Silas E. Burrows, 
presented a handsome marble monument for the spot, the corner-stone of 
which was laid by President Andrew Jackson in 1S33 ; that was nearly but 
not entirely completed, and is now in such a state of dilapidation and ruin as 
to be irrecoverable. 

Augustine Washington [father of George] died 1743, and his body was 
laid in the family vault in Westmoreland county, Virginia. — Lossing , s"Life 
of Alary Washington." 



Let every one of her sex, whatever her condition, come with her 
contribution. She who commands millions, will she not give thou- 
sands? She who by arduous daily toil earns a pittance, may she 
not cheerfully add her mite? 

We would not that this monument be built by a few generous 
men and women alone ; we want the pennies of the poor as well as 
the dollars of the rich. We would have every woman to share in 
the proud privilege of associating herself by her contribution in the 
work of erecting an imperishable memorial to that epitome of 
womanly virtues and graces — Mary, the mother of our beloved 
Washington. 

This Appeal comes to you from The National Mary Wash- 
ington Memorial Association, chartered February 22, 1S90, 
in the District of Columbia. 



Wtn»ttt$. 

Hon. Benjamin Harrison, 

President of the United States (ex officio). 

Hon. Melville W. Fuller, 

Chief-Justice of the United States (ex officio). 

Hon. Philip W. McKinnev, 

Governor of Virginia (ex officio). 

(and incorporators). 

$Jrcsit>ettt. 

Mrs. Amelia C. Waite. 

Mrs. Matilda W. Emory. 

giecottt* •£»tc£-$'rcsit»ettt. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Blair Lee. 

Mrs. Margaret Hetzel. 
Miss Maud Lee Davidge. 



The President of the United 

States (ex officio). 
The Chief-Justice of the United 

States (ex officio). 
The Governor of the State of 

Virginia (ex officio). 

Mrs. Amelia C. Waite, 

1616 Rhode Island Avenue, Washingtc 

gecvetavi). 
Mrs. Margaret Hetzel, 

Clifton Statiu 

E. Francis Riggs, 

Riggs' Bank, Washingt 

Mrs. Matilda W. Emory, 

1718 H Street. Washin 
Mrs. Elizabeth Blair Le 
1653 Pennsylvania Ave., Was) 
Miss Maud Lee Davidgh 
1624 H Street, Was 
Mr. Reginald Fendalt 
344 D Street, W 

Mr. Blair Lee, 

344 DStreet, 



A Vice-President to be appointed in each State, whose duty it 
shall be to organize branch associations in her State, and adopt such 
measures as she may deem expedient to procure funds for the erec- 
tion of this monument, and for its future care and preservation ; also 
to secure the largest enrollment of members possible and forward 
the rolls of names with the sums contributed to the Secretary of the 
National Association for permanent record. 



VICE-PRESIDENTS OF STATES. 



Mrs. Senator Blair, 
Mrs. Governor Dillingham, . 
Mrs. Roger Wolcott, . 
Mrs. Burrows, 
Mrs. Nicholas Beach, . 
Mrs. Senator McPherson, 
Miss Charlotte Pendleton, 
Mrs. Senator Gray, 
Mrs. Mary Washington Keyser, 
Mrs. Senator Faulkner, 
Mrs. Judge Goolrick, . 
Mrs. Senator Vance, 
Mrs. John W. Lewis, 
Miss Wheeler, 
Mrs. Claudia B. Money, 
Mrs. J. Washington Story, 
Mrs. Senator Reagan, ". 
Mrs. Clifton R. Breckenridge, 
Irs. Mary B. Washington, 
rs. D. Meade Massie, 
s. Senator Cockrell, 
-,. James S. Clarkson, 
Lyman Trumbull, 
Senator Stewart, 
Senator Hearst, 
enator Dolph, 
•nator SqyiRE, 



New Hampshire 

Vermont. 

Massachusetts. 

Rhode Island. 

Connecticut. 

New Jersey. 

Philadelphia. 

Delaware. 

Maryland. 

West Virginia. 

Virginia. 

North Carolina. 

South Carolina. 

Alabama. 

Mississippi. 

Louisiana. 

Texas. 

Arkansas. 

Tennessee. 

Ohio. 

Missouri. 

Iowa. 

Illinois. 

Nevada. 

California. 

Oregon. 

Washington. 



j Station, Va.. 

Sept. 15, 1890. 



MARGARET HETZEL, . 
Secretary. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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